Indiana Officer Expected To Make Full Recovery Despite Gunshot Wounds To The Head

Gunshot wounds, contrary to what you see on TV, aren’t always fatal. While we should comport ourselves like they are, lest we be incautious and kill someone due to negligence, the reality is that there are remarkably few zones on a human body that are impossible to survive a gunshot wound. Of course, some are more finicky than others, but the possibility always exists.

An Indiana State Police officer was expected to survive after being shot in the head Tuesday night while trying to apprehend a suspect, officials said.

Indiana State Police said the incident happened just after 7 p.m. in Jeffersonville, located across the river from Louisville, when Trooper Morgenn Evans stopped a gray 1999 Chevrolet Silverado driven by 79-year-old Oscar Kays.

Kays became combative during the traffic stop, police said, eventually pulling a gun on Evans and then shooting him.

Evans was “struck in the head,” but managed to return fire, according to ISP. Kays fled the scene, but the injured officer was able to pursue him for a short time before Kays was able to escape.

Evans was arrested a short time later at his home while Kays was treated for “non-life threatening injuries.”

To his head.

Now, the story doesn’t include some information that might be interesting to us here at Bearing Arms such as the caliber used against the officer or anything else. It does have the most important bit, that Kays will survive with what is probably minimal problems.

That’s fantastic news.

There are some lessons to be taken into account, though. While we tend to think of younger people pulling this kind of stuff, Evans is 79-years-old. He’s well past the age when he should have learned better than to try and shoot at the police over a traffic violation. While we’d say the same regarding a 20-something who (allegedly) pulled this crap, there would still be some niggling thoughts about young and dumb in people’s head.

At his age, Evans engenders no such thinking about youth. Stupidity? Absolutely. Allegedly (for the attorney’s sake).

It does appear that Evans came to his senses when police showed up to arrest him. Otherwise, I suspect he’d have been escorted out of his home in a body bag for good reasons.

Let me make something very clear to everyone who reads this. No good comes of shooting at the police. None.

If one pulls you over, under no circumstances should you decide, “This is a fine time to pull out my gun and shoot at someone who has a firearm on his hip as well, plus a radio to call people with similar weaponry.” If you do this, you are a moron and deserve any horrible things that befall you from that point on.

If the officer is being a jerk, simply be polite and then call the station to speak to his supervisor.

Creating a two-way range is contraindicated when dealing with police, but letting their boss know they’re acting the fool? Oh, that’s appropriate as hell.

Further, there’s no indication that Kays was doing anything of the sort. All we know is that Evans reportedly got combative, then got really combative.